RO/DI Water, Live Sand, Live Rock
- Thread starter mattyg18
- Start date
So i started curing my 50 lb of Fiji Dry Live Rock yesterday in a large plastic tub with a heater and power jet. Man does it stink. I did a 50% water change this afternoon.
Should I be changing the water that often or just let it ride? I may have to move it outside. If it stinks this bad after one day i can only imagine how bad it will stink in a few days.
Thanks
Should I be changing the water that often or just let it ride? I may have to move it outside. If it stinks this bad after one day i can only imagine how bad it will stink in a few days.
Thanks
Put the lid on the container, and ensure complete darkness 24/7.
To monitor the curing (often called cycling the tank) you need to check the levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Even if you’ve bought previously cured live rock, you should still follow this process anyway as it is likely there will still be a small cycle. At first, test the water every day for ammonia until the ammonia drops to 0 and stays there for 3 days straight. If the ammonia goes above 2 ppm do a 75-100% waterchange right away to prevent the high ammonia from killing off beneficial life on your live rock, repeat whenever the ammonia goes over 1 ppm (or even better do waterchanges if it goes over 0.5 ppm). Feel free to do as many waterchanges as you want...go ahead and do 50% everyday if you feel so inclined. This will increase the biodiversity on the rocks that survive the cycle.
NOTE- it is a myth that doing waterchanges will slow down the cycle. The reasoning behind that myth is that you are removing nitrifying bacteria in the water column and dumping them down the drain. These are the nitrifying bacteria whose population you are trying to increase as quickly as possible to finish the cycle as quickly as possible. The reason this is a myth is because there is very little nitrifying bacteria in the water column to begin with. The nitrifying bacteria mainly colonize the rocks, sand, and other surfaces. There is a small amount that colonize the water column, but it is not significant enough to slow the cycling process.
After the ammonia drops to 0 you don't need to test for it anymore. You can start testing once or twice a week for nitrite, but you can skip nitrite and just test for nitrate if you want. Nitrite isn't toxic in saltwater aquaria as it is in freshwater aquaria. To clarify:
If testing for nitrite, once nitrite drops to 0 you don't need to test for it anymore either. It may be at 0 when your ammonia gets to 0, or it may take some while yet. Once both the ammonia and the nitrite are at 0 and have been there for a week do a 50-75% waterchange siphoning out as much detritus as you can see including sucking it off the rocks.
If you are not testing for nitrite, wait a week then do a 50-75% waterchange siphoning out as much detritus as you can see including sucking it off the rocks.
Swish the rocks in the tub to remove detritus before doing waterchanges. Using a turkey baster helps. Be sure to leave the rock exposed for as little time as possible. When the ammonia, and nitrite both reach 0 is when most people will put their rock into their aquariums, this is when the curing process is over.
Cooking the Live Rock in a Rubbermaid
If the live rock is already cured, and you would like to continue on to cook the live rock, continue to do 100% waterchanges once a week. Once your nitrite drops to 0, stop testing for it, and test for nitrate. It may take quite some time for nitrate to drop to 0 (possibly several weeks, maybe even a couple months), but when it does you can then stop testing for it, and start testing for phosphate. Be sure to use a high quality test kit (I prefer Salifert for phosphate). Like the nitrate, it may take quite some time for it to drop to 0. Once it does drop to 0, and stays there for a couple weeks test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate. If all are 0, you have successfully cooked your live rock. Give yourself a pat on the back for your patience, it will pay off!
The only downfall that I have noticed of cooking liverock is the die off of a good amount of coralline algae. I think the benefits of cooking the live rock hugely outweigh this though. The coralline actually comes back very quickly under healthy conditions.
To monitor the curing (often called cycling the tank) you need to check the levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Even if you’ve bought previously cured live rock, you should still follow this process anyway as it is likely there will still be a small cycle. At first, test the water every day for ammonia until the ammonia drops to 0 and stays there for 3 days straight. If the ammonia goes above 2 ppm do a 75-100% waterchange right away to prevent the high ammonia from killing off beneficial life on your live rock, repeat whenever the ammonia goes over 1 ppm (or even better do waterchanges if it goes over 0.5 ppm). Feel free to do as many waterchanges as you want...go ahead and do 50% everyday if you feel so inclined. This will increase the biodiversity on the rocks that survive the cycle.
NOTE- it is a myth that doing waterchanges will slow down the cycle. The reasoning behind that myth is that you are removing nitrifying bacteria in the water column and dumping them down the drain. These are the nitrifying bacteria whose population you are trying to increase as quickly as possible to finish the cycle as quickly as possible. The reason this is a myth is because there is very little nitrifying bacteria in the water column to begin with. The nitrifying bacteria mainly colonize the rocks, sand, and other surfaces. There is a small amount that colonize the water column, but it is not significant enough to slow the cycling process.
After the ammonia drops to 0 you don't need to test for it anymore. You can start testing once or twice a week for nitrite, but you can skip nitrite and just test for nitrate if you want. Nitrite isn't toxic in saltwater aquaria as it is in freshwater aquaria. To clarify:
If testing for nitrite, once nitrite drops to 0 you don't need to test for it anymore either. It may be at 0 when your ammonia gets to 0, or it may take some while yet. Once both the ammonia and the nitrite are at 0 and have been there for a week do a 50-75% waterchange siphoning out as much detritus as you can see including sucking it off the rocks.
If you are not testing for nitrite, wait a week then do a 50-75% waterchange siphoning out as much detritus as you can see including sucking it off the rocks.
Swish the rocks in the tub to remove detritus before doing waterchanges. Using a turkey baster helps. Be sure to leave the rock exposed for as little time as possible. When the ammonia, and nitrite both reach 0 is when most people will put their rock into their aquariums, this is when the curing process is over.
Cooking the Live Rock in a Rubbermaid
If the live rock is already cured, and you would like to continue on to cook the live rock, continue to do 100% waterchanges once a week. Once your nitrite drops to 0, stop testing for it, and test for nitrate. It may take quite some time for nitrate to drop to 0 (possibly several weeks, maybe even a couple months), but when it does you can then stop testing for it, and start testing for phosphate. Be sure to use a high quality test kit (I prefer Salifert for phosphate). Like the nitrate, it may take quite some time for it to drop to 0. Once it does drop to 0, and stays there for a couple weeks test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate. If all are 0, you have successfully cooked your live rock. Give yourself a pat on the back for your patience, it will pay off!
The only downfall that I have noticed of cooking liverock is the die off of a good amount of coralline algae. I think the benefits of cooking the live rock hugely outweigh this though. The coralline actually comes back very quickly under healthy conditions.
Thanks drillsar. I added two capfuls of ammonia yesterday morning and tested for ammonia about an hour later and it was off the chart high. Between that and the smell I decided to do a 50% water change. I'm going to check it in a few minutes and probably do another water change then. I guess i didn't need to add the extra ammonia being it was so high but now I know. I'll keep you posted if you're interested and for anyone else who is going through this.
The way I did it was had 4 rubbermaid containers 2 of which the rock was in. The day before I made my saltwater. I shook and brushed off as much as I could and dropped rock in new batch of saltwater. However, I cooked my rock. You can do 100% water changes which I did just be sure to add ammonia if you do that and check your parameters.
I dont have the extra containers but i could always pick more up tomorrow. Anyways I wanted to ask you if this is normal.
This afternoon i did about a 90% water change. Just left the rock and whatever I couldn't pump out at the bottom of the tub. Filled it back up with RODI Salt Water and checked the ammonia about 2 hours later. It was reading about 3 already. Is that possible? So soon. Should I need to change the water again just after 2 hours? Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
This afternoon i did about a 90% water change. Just left the rock and whatever I couldn't pump out at the bottom of the tub. Filled it back up with RODI Salt Water and checked the ammonia about 2 hours later. It was reading about 3 already. Is that possible? So soon. Should I need to change the water again just after 2 hours? Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
The expiration date says 12/20 so it should be good but who knows. Do you think i should pick up another kit to be sure? Is that possible that the ammonia should be spiking so fast? I'm going to try to do what you suggested tomorrow - as far as emptying the tub and rinsing off the rocks then putting them back in brand new RODI saltwater. The smell doesn't seem to be as bad today as its been which i guess is a good thing. According to my wife it still stinks. Maybe I'm just used to it now. Who knows.
If it still stinks not cured thats when you know. It should smell like fresh ocean. I have never experienced a ammonia spike that fast. It's possible your ammonia was real high and water change lowered it. API kits are not exactly accurate. However, for this purpose doesn't really matter since we want to achieve 0
This morning i removed all of the rocks from the tub. Rinsed them in RODI Saltwater, and removed as much of the junk as I could with my hands and a turkey baster. There wasn't much left to take off that I could get to. I rinsed out the tub and put everything back in. I immediately checked the ammonia to rule out the water or the kit being bad and the level was zero which i was happy about. I'm going to check it in a few hours and see. BTW it didn't really smell before the change. I only changed it because the ammonia level was high. Hopefully the ammonia levels off in the next few days. Is there anything else I should be doing at this point other than sitting tight?
Thanks again for your help drillsar!
Thanks again for your help drillsar!
PilotMaximus
Member
Not my questions but, wanted to thank Drillsar for the great answers and explanations. Building my 180g reef now. I guess I owe Matty a thanks for the questions. Lol
Thanks
Thanks
